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Review of, Paige, Book Three in The Newport Ladies Book Club Series

Product Details:

Paperback: 238 pagesFTC FYI: I bought my own copy. I love this series!

Book Description:

After a bitter divorce from her
unfaithful husband, Paige moves from Utah to California with her two
little boys and vows to make a fresh start. She finds a job at a dental
practice that helps her get back on her feet, but it's the friends she
makes at her new book club who help her realize how strong she is and
who give her support to carry on as she faces the challenges of being a
single mom. She also meets Derryl, a wonderful, kind, attentive man who
treats her right--something her ex never did. Yet, Paige struggles to
figure out who she is a s woman rather than a wife, how to help her
boys adjust to a broken home, and whether she can ever trust a man or
love again. As Paige leans on the book club ladies and Derryl's ever
present care, one thing becomes clear: healing from the past requires
more than a change of address.

My Review:

Paige is the third book in The Newport Ladies Book Club series.Let me remind you what makes this series so unique.

About the Series:

"The
Newport Ladies Book Club series is unique in that each Newport book is
written from the point of view of a different woman in the book club.
The first 4 books cover the same time period and the same book club
meetings. But only with reading all 4 books, will you learn the whole
story of each of the women and her full character journey. Think of it
as a parallel series, not as a forward-moving series."

I knew a lot about Paige from reading the first two books, Olivia and Daisy. I knew the facts, but had to prepare myself for the emotions that would come from reading this book. You see, Paige is the story of a single, LDS, working Mom. That also describes my life right now. Author Annette Lyon captures all of the ups and downs of being a single Mom. I have to admit that I cried a lot as I read this book. The most gut-wrenching scene in the book takes place at Christmas time. Paige has to send her two young sons,(by court order) back to Colorado, with their father and his snooty wife for two weeks.As her boys drive off for two weeks, she breaks down in. That feeling of utter helplessness is so heartrendingly portrayed in Annette's writing..."Letting them drive away was the single hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. I stood there next to my car, watching. I couldn't leave with Doug's truck still in the parking lot; I waited until he pulled out,Carol in the passenger seat, the boys crying. Nate's eyes had a look of pure terror in them; he reached his arms out to me, tears streaking his face. Shawn cried too, only softer. His lower lip quivered, a few tears plopped onto his cheeks, and through the window he mouthed, "Don't go." If a judge hadn't ordered me to do it, I never could have. I tried hard to smile and wave, but there was no way I could keep the tears back anymore. I sobbed, but I smiled through my tears, worried the boys would see them. Doug tossed a wave my way direction while Carol fiddled with the stereo-likely to drown out the sounds of the boys crying. Heartless woman. You'd better not hurt my boys."

There are so many scenes where the heartache of divorce is portrayed. For those of us that have lived through this, it hurts to read. But at the same time, I like to read books that truly show how it is to be a single Mom trying to raise their kids. Bravo Annette for writing this so well! I know that she did good research to get this so right.

Every Newport Ladies Book Club book I read, I love these fictional women even more. Every book has given us new insight into their personalities and reasons for their actions.There is a lot more talk about Latter Day Saint Values, since Paige is the only member of her church in the book club. But, you will see that this is a beacon of light in her life as she has to make important choices for her and her sons. Paige is another great addition to this series!

Author Interview:I was so happy when Author Annette Lyon said that she would answer some questions for my readers. Here is the interview I did with her.

1. Did you ever think that you would be involved in a writing project like The Newport ladies Book Club?

Never. Maybe because I’d never seen anything quite like it done before.
I’d collaborated on smaller things, but with just one person, not with a
group of four. For that matter, I don’t think any of us understood the
complexity of what we were trying to do until it was done. We were just
trying to do our best work with a cool idea, and happened to have fun in
the process. In hindsight, I’m amazed it worked out so well. So many
things could have gone wrong but didn't.

2. What process did you go through to write the character Paige? In what ways did you relate to her?

Paige ended up being the token Latter-day Saint in the group. When I
knew I’d be writing about her, I wanted her to have a conflict that
related strongly to her faith. The Church is extremely family
focused—with good reason—but I’ve seen women struggling after a divorce
and years into single motherhood. I thought that would be a powerful
conflict to delve into.

The biggest way I relate to Paige is
probably the way many of her readers do—as a mother. Her children are
her greatest joys, the reason she works as hard as she does, and even
her greatest source of guilt. They’re the sun of her solar system;
everything revolves around them—at least, until it doesn't. I love that
Paige finds her real self again, and how that, in turn, makes her a
better mom. It’s a great paradox I can relate to.

3. How did you grow as a writer working on this novel?

The novel I wrote just before Paige was Band of Sisters, my first
attempt at a story that had no romantic element and was strictly women’s
fiction. Paige is women’s fiction too, although very different in many
ways from Band of Sisters. I wasn't exactly confident that I could do
the genre well yet.

The great thing is that I had three of my
best friends around me, cheering me on, giving me ideas, and keeping me
motivated—even handing me entire scenes to rework. The process taught me
to see plot structure and character development in a new way—I had to,
because four stories relied on it. As a writer, that became huge,
because big-picture structure is still one of the things I consciously
work on.

4. What did you "learn" from Paige? What did you hope the reader learned or went away with after reading Paige?

That we can never truly know what someone else is thinking or going
through. We don’t know how our words can help or hurt or inspire. I knew
that judging others is impossible—at least, I did on an intellectual
level—but the Newport Ladies Book Club hammered the concept home. We
really don’t know. Really. More, we don’t know how our actions or words
can influence other women we come in contact with, and that’s often for
the good. Livvy, Daisy, and Athena each did and said things that helped
Paige in one way or another, but they may never have fully understood
how much of an impact they had.

5. What character will you be writing next in the series?

My next character is Ilana. I had an inkling of an idea about who she
was and what she struggled with before, so I planted a clue or two in
the first set of books. Writing Ilana has been another powerful
experience for me.

6. You once again did such a great job
writing a novel. How many have you written now? What do you hope to
accomplish next as a writer?

Thank you so much! How many have I
written, or how many have I published? (I’ll save us all by not
counting the manuscripts that will never see the light of day.) Paige is
my 8th novel and 9th book with Covenant (the other being my cookbook,
Chocolate Never Faileth). I self-published a grammar guide and a
middle-grade fantasy. In January, Band of Sisters: Coming Home (the
sequel!) will round the number to a dozen books published, with other
fun stuff in between like a Romance short story anthology released this
month.

As for what’s next: after nearly 20 years of writing
seriously, I feel like I have finally landed in my niche with women’s
fiction. I joke that maybe I had to mature and have more life experience
as a woman before I could write women’s fiction, and maybe that’s true.
I have a few women’s fiction projects in the works. You can purchase Paige here.

About the Author: Annette Lyon

Annette Lyon is a Whitney Award winner, the recipient of
Utah's Best of State medal for fiction and the author of nine novels, a
cookbook, and a grammar guide as well as over a hundred magazine
articles. She's a senior editor at Precision Editing Group and a cum
laude graduate from BYU with a degree in English. When she's not
writing, editing, knitting, or eating chocolate, she can be found
mothering and avoiding the spots on the kitchen floor. Find her online
at blog.annettelyon.com and on Twitter: @AnnetteLyon

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Note: Added 7-22-2014...I am suspending any reviews from new authors for a few months. I'll still be open to reviews from authors I've reviewed for previously. I am back logged with reviews and my new school year is starting soon. I will show here on the blog when I'll be accepting new review requests.

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